Catch Maulana Yasoob Abbas, member of the All India Shia Personal Law Board this week on Off Centre

MUMBAI: India’s Muslims are under tremendous pressure from within and outside the community. The demand on the ban of Triple Talak in one sitting, brutal attacks by Gau Rakshaks reported from different parts of the country and the right wing Hindu campaign against love jihad, have gained momentum in the last three years.

This week on Off Centre, Anuradha Sengupta talks to Maulana Yasoob Abbas who is a member of the All India Shia Personal Law Board, wherein he opens up about a host of contentious issues faced by the country today.

Commenting on if fatwa against cow slaughtering is the right way, Maulana Yasoob Abbas says, “If slaughtering a cow leads to riots and killing of hundreds of people, then the value of human life is more than a cow. A lot of riots have happened where they thought it is beef and later it was discovered to be pork. We are not paying any price by doing this. We want people to live peacefully and for that we are trying to spread this message.”

When asked about the Triple Talak he says that the All India Muslim Law Board never allowed issues related to Shia community to come to light. He further commented, “That a man cannot get divorce just by saying ‘Talak Talak Talak‘. We have been fighting against Triple Talak for a long time now. In 2007, The All India Shia Personal Law Board presented a model of nikahnama where we gave the right to divorce to the women. We have been fighting this battle for about 1400 years now. Today our voices can be heard because we have separated and made a separate board now.”

The Shia Law Board claims to speak for India’s roughly 6 crore Shia Muslims, a minority within the larger Muslim community. The board feels that the issue of Ram Mandir and Babri Masjid should be settled by talks out of the court as the verdict will term one party as winner and the other as loser. He wondered if this an act of amity and hope?